Aimée Hobbs
SaLT
BSc Hons Speech Language Pathology, MSc Global Public Health and Policy
Hello, my name is Aimée. I studied at the University of Cape Town, completing my undergraduate Honours degree in Speech and Language Pathology in 2016. I went on to complete a Master’s degree in Global Public Health and Policy at Queen Mary’s University of London in 2018, after a period of working in Speech and Language Therapy in my home country of Zimbabwe. Having completed my studies, I continued my work as a SaLT in Zimbabwe, running my own private practice and volunteering to provide the only SaLT service in the Zimbabwean public sector hospitals, caring for children and adults with a range of difficulties, as well as in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. During this time I was involved in several public health and policy projects, such as supporting the creation and early development of the University of Zimbabwe’s first SaLT undergraduate training, which has grown to supply the country with its own SaLTs. I started working in the United Kingdom for Words First in 2019, with a focus on school-aged children in mainstream primary schools, in which I have enjoyed developing whole-school interventions and supporting teachers to develop their student’s language skills. I am responsible for developing and overseeing the Words First universal-level intervention program, the Language and Literacy Gym. In addition to whole-school support, I am passionate about feeding and swallowing difficulties (dysphagia) in children and babies. I am a dysphagia-trained SaLT and love working with families of children with feeding and swallowing difficulties to make mealtimes a special time instead of a stressful time. I love being creative in my work at Words First, and in my spare time enjoy painting and reading. If you had to call my sister and ask her to describe me, I think she’d describe me as creative, caring and hard-working.
